Time isn’t on Aodh’s side when he gets trapped in a magical prison on an island thousands of years in the past. The only people who can save him are an old lover he didn’t exactly part on good terms with, and the innocent ursa female whose true power has yet to be unleashed as long as she remains a virgin.

Aodh’s Fated Mates, Neph and Vrishti, have never met. When the ancient satyr and ursa princess finally do, they aren’t quite sure they can trust each other. Will they be able to overcome their misgivings enough to pool their powers and rescue the man they both love?

But even reunited, their journey isn’t over. Their mortal enemy is on the loose, and her hunger for power threatens to tear their entire world apart.

EXCERPT:

Are you prepared?

Vrishti took another long swallow of wine, her eyes wide and intense. “What if I told you I could give you a link to the Source? I know an ursa spell that lets me access that power.”

The hesitance in her voice was the only thing that kept him from jumping up and demanding that she show him now. He spread his fingers and pressed his palms flat on the surface of the table, staring across at her.

“If you have a spell that does that, I want to see it. Then we can decide if I can reach Aodh.”

“I can’t,” she said. “Not yet. I haven’t reached my estrous yet, and I won’t have enough power for the spell until I do.”

“The spell is tied to your fertility, isn’t it?” he asked, beginning to understand her fear of divulging all the details. If she hadn’t reached her estrous, there was a strong chance she was a virgin. More than strong, judging from her behavior. The power wasn’t just the simple command of the life energy that permeated the world and all living things—a power even a male ursa like Cade could access at will, if they were trained for it.

“I have to … um,” she began, then shot a fearful look at them both as though she’d just realized she was sitting in a room alone with two very virile males.

Cade was the first to break the silence, and he did so with a loud laugh. “Kiddo, you’ve dug yourself into a nice little hole here, haven’t you? I’ll help you out, since you’re very new to the whole ursa gig. All that sweet power that builds up inside females before their estrous comes straight from the Source. That’s why it’s so damn dangerous. But the only way to let it out is for you to have an orgasm. Or even better, a whole lot of orgasms. I never knew it could be harnessed and reused … Mostly us males just channel it back to Gaia. So you’re telling us that you have a spell that lets you do that?”

Cade’s clinical explanation did nothing to cool Neph’s rising lust. Vrishti had come to him with this request, one that she knew required her to give herself to him. Or did she know?

“It’s all right, Cade,” Vrishti said. “I … I’m aware of how I access the power. I only had an idea of how you would access it, but now I know. If it means rescuing Aodh, then I’m prepared.”

Neph let out a sardonic chuckle. “I don’t think you are.” He stood up from the table. “Let me show you exactly what you need to be prepared for, because the only way for me to use my full power is in my primal form.” He swiftly unbuttoned his shirt, then his jeans, stripping deliberately out of each item of clothing, ignoring Cade’s fountain of profanity. She had to see.

Vrishti sat stock still, her mouth slightly open and her eyes growing wider.

“You don’t have to …” she started. “I mean, I get it …” She raised a hand when he stood naked in front of her after walking around the table.

“This isn’t what I need to show you,” he said, then summoned his primal shape and shifted. In a smooth flow of magic, his body grew. Giant horns sprouted from his head, curving back from his temples in coiling ram’s horns, and his lower body spawned a coat of thick, black fleece. “This is.”

Even in his human shape, it’d been impossible not to be aroused by her. His simple nakedness a moment earlier had heightened her reaction to the point that he could easily scent her desire. But now his cock had grown in both size and need with the surge of his primal instincts. The thick length protruded from its nest of fleece at his groin, massive shaft curving up in a smooth arc that pointed directly at Vrishti.

“Are you prepared for this, girl?” he asked, voice dripping with every ounce of lust that filled him. He gripped his shaft and gave it a long stroke, enjoying how she licked her lips. He’d happily bend her over the table and fuck her now, but despite that wild craving, he still knew better—though he would have tormented her more with his satyr shape if Cade hadn’t stepped between them and shoved Neph backward.

“You fucking son of a bitch! Get yourself under control, man. I said, nobody is fucking anyone in this house. Not tonight. Not after all that goddamn wine, and especially not without her saying she’s good and goddamn ready for it.” He turned to look at Vrishti, and in a more comforting tone said, “He is right, though, kiddo. You are far from prepared for his crazy ass.”

Author Bio:

Ophelia Bell loves a good bad-boy and especially strong women in her stories. Women who aren’t apologetic about enjoying sex and bad boys who don’t mind being with a woman who’s in charge, at least on the surface, because pretty much anything goes in the bedroom.

Ophelia grew up on a rural farm in North Carolina and now lives in Los Angeles with her own tattooed bad-boy husband and four attention-whoring cats.